


Some ideas for ABO fiction

by RawSunsetRaven (Mislagnissa)



Category: Meta - Fandom, No Fandom
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Blog, Boypussy, Essays, Feudalism, Furry, Hermaphrodites, Intersex, Omegaverse, Stream of Consciousness, Triggers, fic research
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-10
Updated: 2018-09-11
Packaged: 2019-05-21 14:02:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14916707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mislagnissa/pseuds/RawSunsetRaven
Summary: A bunch of my personal ideas for exploring the potential of Omegaverse fiction. The ABO genre inspires the perverse parts of my imagination even if I find some aspects of the genre unsavory. In this extremely informal work I explore putting different spins on the ABO genre, taking inspiration from biology and science fiction literature, and critique some of the assumptions of the genre. I assume that readers are already quite familiar with the ABO genre, otherwise this work will not make very much sense.





	1. Revising and expanding the sexes

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Omegaverse: Everything You need to Know](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8240798) by [DarthSuki](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarthSuki/pseuds/DarthSuki). 



> This work is under constant revision so I apologize for any confusion this may cause.
> 
> This work assumes that the reader is already familiar with the ABO genre. This work is not intended to educate readers in how the genre works. Please refer to authoritative sources, such as Fanlore, for information on the ABO genre and the associated umbrella of tropes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Addendum 6/13/2018: an earlier version of this chapter used offensive slurs, which have been replaced with what I hope are neutral-sounding terms.
> 
> Addendum 9/10/2018: The concepts of new sexes presented in this chapter have been revised.

The revised ABGO dynamic divides human biological sexuality into two "primary sexes" of male and female and "four secondary" sexes of alpha, beta, gamma and omega. Technically, in biology these would be known as "morphs" or variant physical forms of the same species rather than sexes because sex is defined very specifically in biology. In real biology there are only two sexes, male and female, based entirely on whether the sex produces eggs or sperm. Additional sexes could hypothetically exist, but do not, and some species do not have sexes at all but instead use "mating types" to determine reproductive compatibility. But I digress...

The basic premise of the Greek letters is that alphas inseminate and enter rut, omegas conceive and enter heat, betas detect rut/heat, gammas do not. These are all inherently sexed to a degree: all alphas are male (possessing testicles and penis), all omegas are female (possessing uterus and ovaries), betas and gammas are either.

**New primary sexes**

Anne Fausto-Sterling once facetiously suggested that humans had five "sexes" (technically morphs), adding "herms" (short for "true hermaphrodite"), "merms" (short for "male pseudo-hermaphrodite") and "ferms" (short for "female pseudo-hermaphrodite"), but this has never been widely accepted and those terms are now considered offensive. This makes it difficult for me to find short terms for non-binary sexual dimorphism because the words already coined to refer to such have since become slurs. The word _androgyne_ does not appear to have offensive connotations to refer to someone genuinely non-binary, but it has other baggage.

I propose adopting a system of six primary sexes that rearrange the sexual dimorphism of human beings according to the traits of biological sex (male, female, both) and whether their secondary sexual characteristics are masculine (wide shoulders, narrow hips) or feminine (narrow shoulders, wide hips, prominent breasts). I label these six primary sexes are andromorphic male, gynomorphic female, andromorphic female, gynomorphic male, andromorphic ambo, gynomorphic ambo. The names are literal descriptions consisting of a prefix indicating physical masculinity or femininity and a suffix indicating male, female or _ambo_  (Ancient Greek for "both-sided", a la ambidextrous).

  * **Andromorphic male** and **gynomorphic** **female** are self-explanatory. More accurately, these refer to cismale and cisfemale individuals.
  * **Andromorphic female** is biologically female but displays masculine secondary sexual characteristics; may be described as extremely masculinized female; closest human equivalent in reality is pre-operative transman.
  * **Gynomorphic male**  is biologically male but displays feminine secondary sexual characteristics; may be described as extremely feminized male; closest human equivalent in reality is pre-operative transwoman.
  * **Andromorphic ambo**  is biologically male and female but displays masculine secondary sexual characteristics; may be described as masculinized androgyne; no human equivalent in reality.
  * **Gynomorphic ambo**  is biologically male and female but displays feminine secondary sexual characteristics; may be described as feminized androgyne; no human equivalent in reality.



These awkward unwieldy names were coined by myself because, as I said previously, the existing terms expressing the same meaning have since become offensive slurs. As you would expect, human languages are not able to express the complexities of hypothetical species with more than two gender/sex morphs because the majority of humans are either cismale or cisfemale and only an extremely small minority are not. If you can get over the use of slurs as scientific terms, [Orion's Arm](https://orionsarm.com/eg-article/495360fba7a46) has pages explaining the biological distinctions in detail.  

From this, in combination with the Greek letters, I can derive multiple different derived morphs. The only limitation (to avoid redundancy) is that a letter may only be applied to a basic morph which already includes its inherent sex (male for alpha, female for omega, any for beta and gamma). This results in a total of twenty (20) different derived morphs:

  * **Alpha** : andromorphic male, gynomorphic male, andromorphic ambo, gynomorphic ambo (four total)
  * **Omega** : gynomorphic female, andromorphic female, andromorphic ambo, gynomorphic ambo (four total)
  * **Beta** / **Gamma** : all (twelve total)



There is also one last primary sex I did not include above: the gender bender. A gender bender is able to change their primary sex as a result of environmental or internal influence. They may be limited to switching between a limited number of sexes or may assume any of them, depending on author fiat. 

Keep these concepts in mind, because I will refer to them again in future chapters.

** New secondary sexes **

I have come across a number of Omegaverse proposals which add additional letters from the greek alphabet. These are fairly rare so there is no typical scheme. Rather than arbitrarily assigning letters I will present suggestions on doing it yourself. The extended alphabet may be divided into categories based on shared characteristics.

**Variants:** variants sexes are variants on the four basic alpha, beta, gamma or omega sexes. They may be a slightly tweaked version of one of the basic four or a hybrid thereof. The variance may be biological, psychological or a combination.

For example, an alpha/omega hybrid displays the traits of both alphas and omegas. They have a penis with a knot and a uterus. They experience both rut and heat, at once and/or sequentially.

**Gender benders:** gender bender sexes change their apparent sex between two or more of the four basic sexes, or variant sexes, depending on environmental or internal circumstances.

For example, an alpha/omega gender bender will switch between alpha and omega depending the availability of alphas and omegas. In a group of mostly alphas, they will become omega; in a group of mostly omegas, they will become alphas.

**Superpowers:** superpowered sexes have superpowers because of their sex. This might be something related to ABO dynamics like weaponized pheromones, or completely unrelated superpowers.

For example, a new sex may have pheromones so strong they can knock other sexes unconscious or render them highly susceptible to suggestion.

** Playing with the allowed combinations **

In the last two sections I explained how to expand the number of sexes. In this section I will explore the opposite: limiting the allowable combinations.

The standardized ABO dynamics are brief: the single most common primary sexes are male and female and the single most common secondary sexes are alpha, beta (or gamma) and omega. This comes to only six combinations or "sexes" being standardized across the Omegaverse fandom. Most commonly the available sexes may be limited to just alphas and omegas of male and female persuasion, although females being entirely absent has happened.

In reality, and non-Omegaverse fiction which is generally based on reality, we only have bog standard males and females (what the ABGO proposal labels "gamma"). No alphas, omegas, or any other Greek letters. Rare intersex individuals exist in reality but their physiology is not necessarily functional.

My addition of four new primary sexes expands the possibilities of ABO dynamics immensely. Compared to the twenty potential combinations I posited by adding new sexes, the vast majority of omegaverse fiction has only a small subset of sexes. However, I fully expect that my readers may be intimidated by the high number or find it confusing to track. So I fully endorse limiting the allowable combinations, whether that means disallowing specific combinations or entire sexes.

For example, some furry fiction is limited to gammas of all six potential sexes. Although saying it that way is probably disingenuous, since for whatever reason ABO dynamics never gained much traction in the furry fandom.

It is impossible to explore all possibilities here, but I can certainly try to explore a few in the following chapters.


	2. Biology, science fiction, and vaginas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A very brief glance at sexual dynamics in real biology and science fiction and how this relates to ABO

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Addendum 9/11/2018: This chapter has been condensed from multiple chapters and the tone adjusted.

**An extremely brief introduction to the diversity of sexual adaptations in nature**

ABO is a product of human imagination, but Mother Nature is infinitely creative. Ever since sexual reproduction evolved a billion years ago, it has been continually varied.

In nature, some species are _hermaphrodites_. They are both male and female, either simultaneously or sequentially (i.e. they change sex in response to environmental conditions). In addition to wholly hermaphoditic species, Some species in nature may include hermaphrodites in addition to or instead of males and/or females. A _dioecious_ species consists of males and females. An _androdioecious_ species consists of males and hermaphrodites. A _gynodioecious_ species consists of females and hermaphrodites. A _trioecious_ species consists of males, females and hermaphrodites.

Hermaphroditism is subject to different selection pressures than dioecious species, which is why there are no hermaphroditic mammals. Evolving to a different sex system becomes impossible once the anatomy is sufficiently complex, as it is in animals like reptiles, birds and mammals. Because of the different selection pressures, hermaphrodites are only found in plants, invertebrates, fish and amphibians because they have more difficulty finding suitable mates in the environments they are adapted to.

Hermaphrodites are generally restricted to species which have extreme difficulty finding mates. In diecious species, 50% of the population is incompatible. If a hermaphrodite encounters a potential mate, they are much more likely to encounter a compatible mate than a dioecious species. In the event they cannot find a mate, many such species may self-fertilize; but this is only as a last resort.

There are no hermaphrodite mammals for complicated structural reasons too complicated to summarize here. Although some human beings may be born with an _intersex_ condition where their genitals sit somewhere between male and female, this is considered a birth defect as human physiology is not adapted to working that way and consequently intersex individuals may experience medical issues like difficulty passing urine or sterility. The word “hermaphrodite” is considered an offensive slur when applied to human beings. Some ABO technically qualify as hermaphrodites because have fully functional male and female reproductive systems. However, I will not be referring to real or fictional human beings as "hermaphrodites" even if biologically correct due to its aforementioned connotations as a transphobic slur.

Trioecy is the closest thing in nature to ABO dynamics, but it is dramatically different and simpler in nature. Even then it is out-competed by dioecy in the case of complicated terrestrial organisms like birds, reptiles and mammals. Although ABO dynamics are sometimes explained in stories using what is essentially pseudoscience, something as complicated and messy as ABO is unlikely to ever evolve.

That being said, I cannot think of a reason why humans could not have knots, barbs, or any of the other weird penises that exist in the animal kingdom. Our tree shrew ancestors apparently had barbs on their penises, but these were lost at some point. The reason why our penises look the way they do is entirely the result of chance during the evolutionary process.

Real biology gets even weirder from there.

In hyenas, the females have evolved extreme androgyny. Their vulva and clitoris have fused and enlarged to become a penis-like structure labeled a pseudopenis ("false penis"), and they have even developed fatty deposits resembling a scrotum with testes. A male hyena inseminates a female by inserting his penis into her pseudopenis. She will later give birth through her pseudopenis, a difficult and traumatic process which is fraught with complications. Hyenas are social animals that live in an extreme matriarchy, where the littlest female is higher up than the biggest baddest male.

In seahorses and related species, the male has a "brood pouch." The female lays her unfertilized eggs in her partner's brood pouch, he releases sperm to fertilize the eggs, and the father carries the eggs safely within his pouch until they hatch.

In insects, females generally have two different orifices for reproduction: an ovipore (vagina analogue) and an ovipositor. During copulation, the male inserts his aedeagus (penis analogue) into the female's ovipore to deposit his sperm. The female stores the sperm in an spermatheca (sperm receptacle) until she needs to fertilize her eggs. The fertilized eggs are then laid through the ovipositor. In parasitoid species like the Ichneumon wasps, these eggs are laid inside caterpillars or other species.

In bed bugs, the females lack ovipores and thus cannot copulate. So the males literally stab them with their penises, in a process unsurprisingly labeled "traumatic insemination," and the female's hemolymph (blood analogue) carries the sperm directly to her unfertilized eggs.

In the insect genus  _Neotrogla_ , the females have modified their ovipore into a penis-like structure labeled a gynosome ("female body"). The males, by comparison, have developed a genital cavity (androsome?) into which they release sperm. During copulation, the female inserts her gynosome into the male's genital cavity, the male releases his sperm, and the female siphons the sperm into herself. A number of species have adaptations for females to collect the males' sperm, but _Neotrogla_ is unique in that the gynosome is firmly anchored inside the male and any attempts to separate them prematurely will dismember the male.

All marsupials have pouches in which they carry young in lieu of pregnancy. To my knowledge no marsupials have evolved a seahorse-like capability for males to foster offspring, although some species used pouches to protect the male genitals, but I have seen rare examples of ABO fiction of marsupial pouches replacing the conventional male pregnancy.

I have entertained the idea of mixing and matching concepts like these, but I will save the details for another chapter.

* * *

**An extremely brief introduction to the diversity of sexual adaptations in science fiction literature**

While Omegaverse fiction typically features human characters, or at least something close to what we consider human, the fiction easily supports stories featuring aliens. Such stories may focus exclusively on aliens or feature them alongside humans, and the ABO dynamics (or other alien sexual dynamics) may apply to either one or both or in some weird inconsistent way. (When I say "aliens" I am also including abhumans, fantasy races and such.)

Published science fiction is no stranger to alien sexual dynamics, but those stories did not use ABO dynamics. When alien sexual dynamics are featured, they are generally situations like changing between male or female in response to environmental conditions (e.g. Gethenians in Ursula K. Le Guin's _The Left Hand of Darkness_ ), having multiple sexes which equally contributed to reproduction (e.g. Pupfish in Helen Davis' _Silent Runners_ ), or having a biological caste system which is falsely conflated with sexes. Very rarely were there situations in which there were multiple redundant sexes (e.g. wraeththu and kamagrian in Storm Constantine's _Wraeththu_ ).

One of the few examples I know of is the Dirdir in Jack Vance's  _The Dirdir_. I will just quote the explanation from _Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials_ because it needs to be seen to be believed:

> It is known that twelve different types of sexual organs exist in Dirdir males, and fourteen types in females. Each type is compatible with one or more types of the opposite gender, and each type has certain traditional cultural attributes. While a Dirdir's basic gender is obvious from the being's skin color and body size, its exact type of sexual organs is a Dirdir's most closely-guarded secret. No outsider has ever learned the complex social conventions that surround and restrict Dirdir reproduction.

I have been told before that my additions to ABO dynamics are too complicated, and I have myself criticized ABO dynamics as being impossible to ever evolve naturally, but the Dirdir really take the cake. I cannot even begin to imagine how that would be expected to work.

When writers deliberately set out to overturn gender conventions, the results can be very... intriguing? weird?

One fanfic I read described an alien race with six or seven "genders." Biologically, they seemed to be some kind of caste system. Since "caste" and "gender" do not easily apply, I will use the more generic "morph." The aliens had six or seven morphs based on their ability to reproduce and other physical characteristics. One morph was female, one was sexless and the rest were male. All of the morphs had distinct physical differences, such as muscle tone, fur, scales, bone structure, etc. What they all had in common was that none of them appeared as what humans would consider traditionally feminine (i.e. the females did not display breasts) and they only ever used male pronouns even for the female morph.

Another fanfic I read featured aliens whose males and females had dramatically different anatomy than humans. While the males had testes that produced sperm and the females had ovaries that produced ova, the rest of their reproductive system was not comparable to human anatomy. The male had a uterus, vagina and vulva and his  _four_ testes were internal. The female had a siphon, uterus, ovipositor and _three_ ovaries. The species copulated in a more complicated fashion than what humans are used to: the female inserted her siphon into the male's vagina where it siphoned his semen, then the semen was delivered internally to the female's uterus where it fertilized her ovum, then after a short gestation time the female inserted her ovipositor into the male's vagina where it delivered the zygote into his uterus to begin pregnancy proper.

I really have to give the authors credit for their creativity. I hope this gets your imagination running, because it certainly got mine.

* * *

**Who puts a sewer line through a recreational area?  
**

This section will almost certainly be controversial, so I would like to state in advance I intend no offense. Anal sex is not my cup of tea, but I will not kink-shame anyone who likes it. Long story short, ABO uses the anus as a substitute vagina and this is not realistic. There is nothing wrong with being unrealistic, but if a story is trying to be realistic by invoking real biology as an explanation for anything then it should be well informed about said biology.

So here we go:

Reptiles, birds and monotremes all use the same orifice for reproduction, urination and defecation, known as a _cloaca_. Mammals, aside from monotremes, do not. This is because a cloaca is really, really unhygienic.

Urine is filtered from the blood, so when freshly passed it does not have a significant higher concentration of bacteria than blood does. In fact, the presence of toxic ammonia and urea makes urine mildly useful as a cleaning agent if used fresh before it can be colonized by bacteria. The colon is full of decomposing organic matter and fecal bacteria which are highly harmful to the rest of the body.

The evolution of mammals has shown a consistent move away from a cloaca and toward separate orifices for reproduction, urination and defecation. The benefit of this is that it dramatically reduces the risk of infection from fecal bacteria, and appears to have co-evolved with the development of live birth.

Giving birth through a cloaca, as in the case of some reptiles and sharks where eggs hatch inside the mother, risks infecting the young with fecal bacteria. That is why the vast majority of species with a cloaca laid eggs that hatch outside the parent, as the egg shell serves as a barrier to the transmission of fecal bacteria. This barrier is still imperfect: many birds contract chlamydia when eggs touch fecal matter during egg-laying.

Some birds and reptiles have a penis which emerges from the cloaca. This makes it easier for them to mate, but does not reduce the risk of infection.

In contrast to all known animals and in defiance of those selection pressures, omega males as typically depicted have a separate penis for passing urine and semen and a separate cloaca for defecation and reproduction. It makes no sense, given what we know, that mammals would retain a cloaca after the development of live birth. Even in a hermaphroditic organism the same selection pressures apply; it makes no sense that a hermaphroditic animal with a cloaca and a penis and vagina inside that cloaca would evolve to separate the penis from the cloaca but not the vagina.

Realistically, there are really only two options.

  1. That _everyone_ , alpha or omega, has a cloaca from which their penis emerges and serves as both anus and vulva.
  2. That omegas have a distinct vulva through which they have sex and give birth, entirely separate from the anus.



Yes, both options seem foreign but they are more realistic and biologically plausible than the typical mechanics of ABO. If you are curious, try them out and see if it makes a difference.


	3. Deconstructing the dynamics

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taking apart the dynamics and examining the individual tropes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Addendum 9/11/2018: This chapter has been edited for tone.

The defining feature of Omegaverse fiction is that it (to one degree or another) combines multiple fanfiction tropes including knotting, male pregnancy, dominance hierarchy, bonding, heat cycles, mating, and werewolves. Most of these are sexual kink tropes, some of which I personally find disturbing (particularly the dubious and non-consensual elements). I will take a look at these tropes and see if anything different may be done with them.

**Werewolves**

Probably the single most important trope to the development of Omegaverse is werewolves. This is because most of the other tropes derive from werewolf stories. I will mention this multiple times when examining the other tropes.

 _What can be done differently with this trope?_  Use other lycanthropes like werecats, werebears, wererabbits, et al.

**Male/male romance**

This trope is more important than even werewolves to Omegaverse. How many Omegaverse stories do you know of that are not male/male romances?

 _What can be done differently with this trope?_  Write male/female, female/female, group or other combination.

**Knotting**

Knotting goes back to werewolf fiction. Werewolves turn into wolves, which are canines, which have sex in a weird way. Males have a knot on their penis that gets stuck in the vagina during sex so that other males cannot inseminate the female at that time. This is a widespread concept in furry fiction, along with various other animal penises like feline penis barbs which have yet to achieve the same level of popularity. 

 _What can be done differently with this trope?_  Replace the canine knot with feline barbs or any of the other fascinatingly weird penises seen in nature.

**Male pregancy ("mpreg")**

In seahorses the male carries the eggs, but mpreg works nothing like that. Lots of fanfic writers display a fascination with two dudes hooking up and getting one of them pregnant. This is not a hook up between a cismale and a transmale who make a baby by inserting a penis into a vagina. Instead, the male pregnancy trope is about two cismales hooking up and one of them uses his colon as a makeshift uterus. This has given rise to the pejorative "assbabies."

A related fanfiction trope is when a girl impregnates a boy or girl. A girl impregnating a boy is still labeled "mpreg", but a girl impregnating a girl is labeled "fempreg."

 _What can be done differently with this trope?_  Instead of impregnating a cismale, considering replacing him with a transmale. Alternately, give him a vulva, marsupial pouch, seahorse brood pouch, et al.

**Dominance hierarchy**

Werewolf fiction and fanfiction typically uses a dominance hierarchy based on an outdated understanding of wolf packs. Alphas sit at the top, betas in the middle, and omegas at the bottom. In reality, wolf packs are organized along family lines: the "alphas" are the eldest parents, and the "betas" are their kids, in-laws and grand-kids. To my knowledge no werewolf fiction uses the real hierarchy, probably because it is the same as human extended families.

In fanfiction, specifically male/male romance fanfiction, this imaginary hierarchy is further conflated with the heterosexist top/bottom or seme/uke sexual dynamic seen in other male/male romance fiction. Alphas are masculine and topping, betas are neuter and versatile (?), and omegas are feminine and bottoming.

 _What can be done differently with this trope?_  Turn it into a proxy for the patriarchy by criticizing it within the story and introducing non-binary characters. Consider writing a world where women are the dominant sex a la the Amazons of Greek myth.

**Soul bonding**

The concept of "soul bonding" is quite common in fiction and fanfiction going back thousands of years. Basically it is a paranormal form of friendship or marriage that often grants a telepathic or empathic link between those connected. The bonds may be formed between two people who are rivals or outright enemies, and good writers use this to write character development such as the two developing a better understanding of one another.

In fantasy stories with fantastic animal companions there often exists a bond between a rider and their steed or a wizard and their familiar, such as in  _Dragonriders of Pern_ or _Dungeons & Dragons_. In _Tales of Arcadia: Trollhunters_ , a villain uses magic to create a bond with the hero's parent so that the hero cannot harm the villain without inflicting equal harm on their parent. In _StarCraft_ , a race of alien warrior-poets use an instinctive telepathy/empathy to coordinate their actions during battle. 

Soul bonds are not limited to linking two or more living creatures, but can be applied to pretty much anything and further extended to soul switching, stealing and so forth. The ancient concept of astral projection involves the soul leaving its body while retaining a long-distance bond during traveling. In _StarGate SG-1_ , alien technology allows characters to switch their souls while retaining a sympathetic link to their original body that causes both parties to share their pain. In _Fullmetal Alchemist_ , souls are bonded to inanimate suits of armor in order to control those objects like puppets.

Such bonds are commonly used as a writing shortcut to create a forced sense of "true love" between two people in lieu of naturally developing a relationship. For example: in Stephanie Meyer's _Twilight_ , werewolves form a one-sided bond to a potential partner and subsequently lose interest in any other potential partners.

 _What can be done differently with this trope?_  Consider using soul bonds for non-sexual purposes.

**Heat cycles**

Along with knotting, heat cycles originate from the reproductive methods of canines and other mammals. Instead of menstruating, some mammals enter heat during estrus. This results in their bodies becoming ready for pregnancy and releasing pheromones to signal to nearby males that they are receptive to sex. In some mammals, such as ferrets, their core temperature and blood pressure will keep rising and eventually kill them unless they are relieved by sex or masturbation. These are not the only ways that mammals are known to reproduce differently from humans. Some mammals, such as cats and rabbits, have induced ovulation. That means that they do not ovulate on a cycle, but that they ovulate upon being stimulated by sex (or masturbation).

A related trope is rut cycles or rutting, which is like heat except applied to males. In some mammals, like deer and elephants, males that are ready to reproduce will become much more aggressive towards other males, produce pheromones pleasant to females and will perform various activities (such as rolling in dust or mud) to court females.

In fanfiction, these cycles are depicted with an extreme aphrodisiac effect to the point where those affected may be incapacitated or driven violently mad with lust.

 _What can be done differently with this trope?_  Perhaps use only heat, use only rut, use both, use only induced ovulation, use induced ovulation and rut, or something not listed here.

**"Mating"**

I was not able to find much information about "mating," but I interpreted it as some kind of weird marriage contract related to bonds and heat. Basically, when a couple are "mates" (definitely not to be confused with the colloquial sense of "friends" or "pirate managerial staff") then they seem to demonstrate extreme jealousy about one another bordering on paranoia. This may cross into outright paranoia or emotional and/or physical abuse. There may be elements of BDSM involved, such as violent and animal behavior during sex (biting is popular).

In some cases this manifests as the couple needing to copulate or else one or both of them will die for some reason. This may be combined with mind-altering drugs (e.g. pheromones, soul binding, heat), deliberate extortion by a third party, or the loss of virginity by one party.

 _What can be done differently with this trope?_  No comment.


	4. Feudalistic settings are the best

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An explanation of why feudalistic settings are the best way to explore the social ramifications of ABO dynamics

Feudalistic settings are the best way to explore the social ramifications of ABO dynamics. Why?

In feudalistic settings, the feudal lords pass down their titles through heredity. In the real world, this was usually based on the male line of descent. Marriages were commonly arranged to form political alliances. All of this was founded on the biological distinction between males and females. If a wife cuckolded her husband, the entire system was placed at risk.

Adding ABO dynamics, specifically those in which individual characters are capable of both siring and bearing heirs, severely complicates feudalism as we understand it. Even more than, say, genderbending major characters in _A Song of Ice and Fire_.

ABO dynamics have consequences for lines of descent. In the real world feudal titles were typically passed down to the oldest male heir, despite the omnipresent danger of cuckolding. Women were judged as less valuable most of the time because being pregnant was so labor intensive. It stands to reason that ABO heirs will be similarly judged in value by their sexes.

In more creative interpretations of the sexual hierarchy, ABO dynamics could reduce the danger of being cuckolded in situations where a sex with a uterus is not considered the most inferior. It is biologically impossible for anyone with a uterus to be cuckolded by the inseminating partner. It stands to reason that families might protect their claims by ensuring that their titles are always passed to heirs born from their own uterus.

The full ramifications are dependent on the allowed combinations of sexes, so further analysis on my part would need to be context specific.


End file.
